Hot Tickets: Los Angeles

30Jan

Here are this week’s hot tickets in the Los Angeles area. Check back every Monday at noon, PST for stellar events that fit the interests of locals and tourists alike.

Tuesday, January 31 | Dough for the Oven Fundraiser – Eat cookies for community improvement! The night includes a 3-course gourmet vegan dinner, vegan baked goods tasting extravaganza, and your very own cookbook with recipes for everything you’ve tasted! All proceeds will go to buy a 24″ professional range for HM157‘s weekly community vegan dinners.

Thursday, February 2 | Best of BUG: The Evolution of Music Video – BUG began in April 2007 as a series of bi-monthly shows at BFI Southbank, the home of British cinema. These celebrations of global creativity in music video have since become a phenomenon, as popular and brilliant as the visual ideas which the BUG team unearths.

Come feast your eyes and, of course, your ears – on an evening of awe-inspiring music videos, astounding online nuggets and a unique brand of sit-down comedy with Adam Buxton – British comedian, writer, broadcaster, video director, general music video enthusiast and YouTube comment wrangler. This special show for Downtown Independent is a selection of some favorite videos from the swathe of work recently presented in London with Adam’s own inimitable presentation and some delightfully unbalanced commentary from YouTube commentators, all interspersed with some gems of Adam’s own making.

Thursday, February 2| Piñata – Piñata is Christine Schoenwald‘s honest, funny and confessionally naked personal essay show featuring working writers, actors and comedians. Every show has a different cast! And free candy is thrown at you at the end! It’s safe to say you can’t find that sort of value-add anywhere else.

Saturday, February 4| 80S PROM PARTY – From the company that brought you smash-hit RENT:Downtown L.A., Over the Moon Productions is proud to be throwing this benefit to raise money for their upcoming production of Tony-Award Winning, SPRING AWAKENING! This musical is being performed to bring the Los Angeles community together to support art, theater and education.

Saturday, February 4| Outsiders Observe Los Angeles – Some experimental films draw on traditional notions of documentary and ethnographic film, but manipulate them with an increased emphasis on media specificity and concerns over how media works convey meaning and “truth” in non-fiction. On January 21, Los Angeles Filmforum featured a program of films by filmmakers based in Los Angeles. This show, however, will show films looking at Los Angeles by artists who weren’t here for the long haul — visitors to LA’s balmy climes. What truths about the city are these non-Angeleños able to see, and how do they express them? Featuring two longer works, by the late great Robert Nelson and by David Lamelas, plus a couple of short works to be announced.

Know of any other events happening in the Los Angeles area this week? Post them in the comments section.